Artist Statement
For me the crucial challenge is to make photographs that are intelligent and compelling. A photograph is full of facts, but is also capable of containing great mystery. This is what I strive to embody in all of my work.

To go beyond the surface--the appearance of the subject--and suggest that there is more to be known and experienced is for me most important. I find the natural world endlessly fascinating and inexhaustably rich with suggestion and mystery. Process Statement
My equipment is simple, but meets my needs perfectly. I use 2 Leica M6 cameras with two lenses: a 35mm Summicron and a 50mm Summicron. I use Ilford Delta 100 black and white film, a portable tripod and an undistinguished camera bag. With these, I must get close to my subject and experience the space and feeling, impossible to do if I am standing far off with a long lens and reaching into the distant space.

 

 

Douglas R. Gilbert has been a serious photographer since the age of fourteen. When he was twenty-one, he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the company's history. A few years later, he left Look to work as an artist and has since had his work published in countless national and international publications.

His work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena CA, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, as well as in many private and institutional collections. Forever Young, a group of photographs from an unpublished Look story is his fourth book. He lives with his wife in Spring Lake, MI.

“The unique aspect of photography that sets it apart from other visual art media (save cinema) is that the camera produces a literal image for the subject. For me as artist it is also the crucial and ongoing challenge to make unaltered photographs that are intelligent and compelling. A photograph is full of facts, but is also capable of containing great mystery. This is what I strive to embody in all my work. To go beyond the surface—the appearance of the subject—and suggest that there is more to be known, is for me, most important. I find the natural world endlessly fascinating, inexhaustibly rich with suggestion and mystery.”
Education
1993 M.S.W. Salem State College. Massachusetts
1972 M. S. Photography. Institute of Design. Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
1964 B.A. Social Sciences and Art. Michigan State University. East Lansing
Professional Experience
1960-present Photographer
1972-1982 Assistant Prof. Of Art. Wheaton College. Illinois
1967-1972 Freelance photographer. New York City and Chicago
1964-1967 Staff photographer. LOOK Magazine. New York City

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2014



2014


South Haven Center for the Arts, South Haven, MI. "Bob Dylan: Forever Young"

Convent of the Servite Order. Orvieto, Italy. "Light from Light"
2012 Adams Gallery, Wheaton College (IL). "Italian Light"
2010 Holland Museum & Archives. Holland, MI "Bob Dylan: Forever Young"
2010 Sao Paolo Gallery, Gordon College. Orvieto, Italy. "Italian Light"
2006 Farmani Gallery, Los Angeles. "Street Shots: New York's Financial District in 1965"
2005 Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston. "Bob Dylan: Unscripted"
2005 The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles. "Bob Dylan: Unscripted"
2003-2004 The Lobby for the Arts Gallery. Amesbury, MA. "Selections from the Italy Collection"
2003 The Gallery at Barrington Center for the Arts. Gordon College. Wenham, MA. "Selections from the Italy and Dangerous Beauty Collections"
2001 Istituto San Lodovico. Orvieto, Italy. "A Dangerous Beauty". Black and white photographs of New England gardens
2000 The Home Gallery. Downriver Council for the Arts. Taylor, MI."Orvieto, Umbria, Italy"
1999 Istituto San Lodovico. Orvieto, Italy. "Orvieto and Vicinity"
1987 Auginbaugh Gallery. Messiah College. Pennsylvania. New England domestic architecture
1984 Maritime Museum. Newburyport, MA. 19th Century New England Domestic Architecture
1983 Wisteriahurst Museum. Holyoke, MA. Early 20th Century Memorial Chapel Architecture
1981 The Gilbert Gallery. Chicago. "The American Wilderness"
1978 The Art Institute of Chicago. "Spaces and Intersections"
Selected Group Exhibition
2014 The Norton Simon Museum. Pasadena, CA. "Face It: The Photographic Portrait"
2007 Sande Webster Gallery. Philadelphia. "Documentary Photography"
2006-2007 The Norton Simon Museum. Pasadena, CA. "The Collectable Moment"
2006-2007 Farmani Gallery. Los Angeles. Holiday Group Show
2005 Sony Ericsson Proud Galleries. London, U.K. "The Official Bob Dylan Exhibition"
2000 The Stage Gallery. Merrick, New York
1987 The Art Institute of Chicago
1981 The Australian Centre for Photography. Sydney
1980 The Gilbert Gallery. Chicago
1980 Bertha Urdang Gallery. New York City. "Black and White Photographs"
1979 The Atlanta Gallery of Photography. Georgia
1978 The University of Maryland Art Gallery. College Park, MD
1975 N.A.M.E. Gallery. Chicago
1974 The Art Institute of Chicago
1970 The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C
Collections
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Norton Simon Museum. Pasadena, CA
Continental Bank. Chicago
The High Museum of Art. Atlanta, GA
American Art Collection. Wheaton College. Illinois
Auginbaugh Gallery Collection. Messiah College. Pennsylvania
The Downriver Council for the Arts. Taylor, MI
Numerous private collections
Books
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan. With Dave Marsh. DaCapo Press: New York: 2005 Paperback edition: 2006
C. S. Lewis: Images of His World. With Clyde Kilby. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids: 1973 Revised edition published 2005

Flannery O'Connor: Images of Grace. With Harold Fickett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids: 1985

The Steps of Bonhoeffer: A Pictorial Album. With J. Martin Bailey. United Church Press, Philadelphia: 1969 hardcover edition. Macmillan Company, New York: 1971 paperback edition.